Water, sanitation and hygiene

Water and hygiene play a crucial role in improving public health. Safe drinking water, a reliable water infrastructure and proper sanitation and personal hygiene are critical in protecting people from getting infected with viruses and bacteria, such as COVID-19.

Fight COVID: 4G internet for water authorities in Burkina Faso– May 2020

Dutch partners in the Faso Koom partnership purchased 4G internet for staff of the local water authorities in Burkina Faso. Using the 4G internet, staff of the Burkinabe water authorities can continue their work from home and contribute to stop the Coronavirus from spreading.

A handsfree handwashing station with soap by SNV


More awareness for handwashing helps Nepal to fight COVID– August 2020

Dutch partners in the Faso Koom partnership purchased 4G internet for staff of the local water authorities in Burkina Faso. Using the 4G internet, staff of the Burkinabe water authorities can continue their work from home and contribute to stop the Coronavirus from spreading.

A mobile phone campaign from Max Foundation to combat coronavirus


Self supporting handwashing solutions to fight COVID-19 – May 2020

A simple soap dispenser on a water pump or a water bucket made out of a plastic bottle. Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to slow down the spreading of Covid-19. Only very little water and self-made soap is needed. This is advocated by Smart Centre Group, a Dutch foundation that runs several WASH training centres in Africa for supplying low cost water and sanitation facilities.

Urgent need for hand washing facilities – June 2020

WASH specialist Juan Smulders at Unicef reports on the construction of water and soap facilities to enable 200,000 South Africans to wash their hands. Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, WASH facilities in South African townships are urgently needed. Smulders responded to a call of the Dutch government as part of the rapid-response programme DSS Water.

Simavi: Using adaptive management to achieve sustainable behavioural change


Xopi: Safely storing solid bars of soap in a dispenser


Let’s celebrate global handwashing day– October 2020

15 October, is Global Handwashing Day. Washing hands is by far the most simple and effective way of preventing illness and the spread of germs. This is also the case with the corona virus. However, three out of 10 people in the world lack access to clean tap water. On a day like this, we can only appreciate the beneficial work of so many organisations, such as Wilde Ganzen, supporting handwashing projects all around the globe.

Max Foundation: Affordable handwashing device for in-house hygiene


Small water providers in Africa and Asia face paradox situation – May 2020

Water entrepreneurs in Africa and Asia are facing difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic causes a higher demand for water but at the same time their incomes go down. Not-for-profit organisation Aqua for All draws attention to this paradoxical situation.

Medical face shields from plastic for water pipes – April 2020

Dutch company Wavin, a producer of plastic pipes for water systems, donates 100,000 copies of special-made face shields to healthcare workers. The shields are produced from plastic that is normally used for the production of pipe systems and units for storm water catchment. The first 20,000 shields have already been delivered to three Dutch hospitals.